Transcendental Meditation Report

<p align=justify>In addition, meditation helps one understand various concepts of Buddhism. For instance, meditating on impermanence, such as decomposing bodies, helps dislodge attachment of worldly pleasures and show how everything is impermanent. The two types, “Vipassana” and “Samatha”, both teach the Buddhist how they should behave and in what state of mind. For example, Samatha teaches the Buddhist to detach from everyday concerns and concentrate on being impermanent. Vipassana teaches that everything is attached and interconnected in the world.

This paper is a book report on “Living Buddha, Living Christ,” written by, Thich Nhat Hanh. In this paper I will discuss the four themes; Mindfulness, Understanding, Interbeing, and Wisdom. I will define the themes, and explain how each theme listed is a part of my life and whether this theme, can be co-related along with my faith.

"The Transcendentalist adopts the whole connection of spiritual doctrine. He believes in miracle, in the perpetual openness of the human mind to new influx of light and power; he believes in inspiration, and in ecstasy."(Emerson 196). These two lines written by Ralph Waldo Emerson exemplify the whole movement of transcendentalist writers and what they believed in. Though to the writers, transcendentalism was a fight for a belief, unknown to them they could have been fighting for the betterment of human health. The transcendentalist writings of Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson have directly affected the health of modern society through the idea of transcendental meditation.

Do you think meditation leads to heightened sensation and perception? Explain why or why not.

There is a time in all religious experiences that people look for spiritual growth by reflecting on the basics of life. An estimated 376 million people are considered to believe and follow Buddhist practices, the question of the four elements (sight’s), aging people, the sick, funerals processions and religion. These elements that Siddhartha Gautama saw, that led to him to seek religious enlightenment, and to give up his privileged life. These four elements come up in every religious walk at some point. Reflection on these elements can have astonishing effects in someone’s life. By looking at these elements, and by showing the effect they had on Siddhartha Gautama’s life, will show that anyone could grow in their spiritual belief by reflecting

Thich Nhat Hanh introduced the “Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings of Buddhism,” and these principles ultimately guide the audiences to see a different perception and the ways to deal with the hardships of everyday life. Throughout this article, humans’ minds will be closer to nature and help them to have a comfortable time in the modern life.

Mindfulness has slowly crept into modern day America and has become commonly thought as unattached from its Buddhist origin. In order to attract customers and adherents, writers and teachers of mindfulness separated it from Buddhism. Secular practitioners still benefit from mindfulness, not as a religious meditative ritual, but as a concentration and thinking technique that can improve their wellbeing and efficiency. Even if mindfulness is used as an improved thinking tool and health practice, it remains linked to the Buddhist religion and ideals, and a clear ignorance of that relationship is wrong no matter the benefits. The appropriation of mindfulness into secular America also definitely waters down core Buddhist principles such as the

The two most common forms of meditation are practicing Mindfulness of Breathing (Anapana Sati) and Loving Kindness Meditation (Metta Bhavana) (Dhammika 2015).

Descartes talked about the true and the false, and how we make mistakes in Meditation Four. Descartes believed that error as such is not something real that depends upon God, but rather is merely a defect. And thus there is no need to account for my errors by positing a faculty given to me by God for this purpose(546). He thought that the reason why we make mistakes is that the faculty of judging the truth, which we got from God, is not infinite(546). When Descartes focused more closely on more closely on himself and inquired into the nature of his errors, he noted that errors depend on the simultaneous concurrence of two causes:

Mindfulness intervention has shown to be effective in alleviating depressive symptoms. In particular, Transcendental Meditation (TM) helps depression patients to relieve stress and depressive symptoms, to improve overall life satisfaction, and to reduce anxiety. Since the underlying mechanism of neurobiological changes brought on by TM intervention to depression patients is yet unknown, this study attempts to investigate how TM helps to relief depressive symptoms by regulating the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis function through the measurement of cortisol response. College participants were randomized into an eight-week program with either a TM intervention or no intervention. During the course of the study, biological function measurement

Meditation has a long history that stretches back thousands of years. Nobody knows exactly where and when meditation began but scientists have evidence to believe that it began somwehere around 5,000 years ago. This was a time far before religious figures such as Jesus and Buddha are said to have existed. 5,000 years ago, much of the civilized world was nothing like it is today. It was mostly hunter gatherers with few villages in the open landscapes. Meditation is said by scientists to have most likely began with hunter gatherers who would pass on their enthusiasm for such an introspective practice to their children.

"The first precept was never to accept a thing as true until I knew it as such without a single doubt."

come to the conclusion that there is a limit to what they can do. A conscious

Instead of seeing a "soul" or a "mind" as the seat of personal identity, in Buddhism, the self is to be found in processes. Meditation, then, has the therapeutic effect of disengaging the practitioner from self-consciousness, freeing the mind. The view of the world without the construct of a permanent essence enables one to "experience reality as it really is" (3). It is important to note that Buddhism does not distinguish mental processes from other senses. Just as seeing takes a visual object, the mind takes a mental object (1). Just as the eye is free to take in different visual objects, the mind is free, as well. While meditation aims to develop "single-pointedness of mind," it is ultimately to free it from external objects. The focus is on the process of breathing, in Zen, and, eventually, one can reach a state where one is not considering anything (2). Zen considers the "blank-mind" stage to be a higher form of consciousness because it is free from attachments.

It was only when I redefined the practice in layman's terms that I realised I practice reflection in my every day life. I tend towards analysis and evaluation on a daily basis, whether it is in analysing how I talk to someone, how my sessions with my scout group work or how I use my reading to increase my vocabulary.